


The Glen

by Baekhanded



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Eventual Relationships, Memory Loss, More tags to be added, eventual Pynch, eventual bluesey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 10:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14103174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baekhanded/pseuds/Baekhanded
Summary: A boy is lost in a time that's not his own. Will his people find him? Or will he have to survive in this new time?





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [luneia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luneia/gifts).



> Hello there! This is my first work in this fandom and im TERRIFIED, please PLEASE let me know what you think!!
> 
> Also! this is for my lovely Luneia that not only got me in to the series, but is the light of my life, i really hope you like it!

There were a lot of things Adam didn’t remember. A lot of holes in his memory. If you asked Adam to describe his oldest memory, he would say “A week ago, I woke up in a field with no shoes and covered in blood.” But people didn’t ask questions like that. People asked what your favorite color was (“Blue”) your favorite flower (“I don’t know the name, sorry”) how old you are (“I’m...18? 19? Something...like that…”) and your favorite animal (“Raven”).

 

No, no one ever asked your oldest memory. At least not until they knew you better. Not until you had friends. Adam didn’t have friends. Adam had a weeks worth of memories. Fear and pain. He had hazy nightmares about a life he didn’t remember. Friends weren’t high on his priority list. His memories were. 

 

Who was he? Where was he from? Did he have a family? Did they miss him? Were they worried? Did anyone even know he was gone? Was anyone looking for him?

 

Did he even exist?

 

It didn’t do to dwell on thoughts like those, he learned that quickly but fell in to it every now and again. He knew if he wanted to live, to get his memories back, he needed to survive. He needed to fight. People looked at him funny when they saw him. Maybe it was the lack of shoes or the dried blood on his clothes, maybe it was because he looked like he lived in the woods. 

 

He did. Live in the woods. The bridge to the woods to be exact. It was safest there. Next to a small stream and tall weeds to hide him. Just in case.

 

What didn’t do were the people that threw trash over the bridge. Adam cleaned it. Every day. But it never stopped them. Not even confrontation did. At least. Not by him. 

 

Survival.

 

He needed to survive. He didn’t know how to survive. He didn’t know what the first step was. A week ago, he might have, but now. He didn’t even remember his last name let alone how to get shoes or clothes or a warm place to sleep. He couldn’t ask anyone. No one let him get near.

 

He wanted a place to call home.

 

Home.

 

He wished he could remember where that was….

 

_ No, no dwelling, Adam. You can’t dwell on things you don’t know.  _

 

It was getting colder, he knew he needed to find a place to stay. 

 

“I know…” He murmured to himself as he looked to the water. His appearance must be what’s turning strangers away from him. If he cleaned up...maybe. Taking the plunge, Adam jumped in to the water and tried to scrub off all of the dirt and blood from his clothes. It worked...for the most part. Now he was just wet with no shoes.

 

“Job...people tell me to get a job, that’s what i’ll do.” He nodded to himself and stepped up the incline to the bridge and crossed it, into the town.

 

He walked on feet that had gone beyond pain into a bone deep numbness. He felt nothing. People didn’t shy away from him anymore. Now they looked on in pity and distrust. They called him things he didn’t know. He didn’t like the pitying looks. He may not remember anything but there was no reason to pity him. He walked on.

 

He had never made it this far into the town before. People usually rushed him out, calling him bad luck. Something of the Wilds or the Faeries. He didn’t know what that meant. All he knew was that he needed something. He would steal it if he had to.

 

People were too wary of him, there weren’t opportunities to steal like he needed. He made it through town empty handed. He spotted a house at the end of the way. It was his last chance. Night was falling and the cold came with it. He would not spend another night in the cold. He couldn’t.

 

He made his way to the house, noting it was lively, but sparsely so. The occupants didn’t seem to pay much attention to one side when they were all congregated in another. So he snuck closer, he peered inside. 

 

It was warm, candles lit the inside and it smelled of food. He can’t remember the last time he ate. The house seemed to be full of women. Is that odd? Should it be? He can recall hearing the townsfolk talk about witches, or women that took with no man. Was this them? It didn’t matter.

 

Survival did. He needed something. Food. clothes. Shelter. He didn’t know how to ask. He didn’t have any way to pay them back. He felt a cold drop of fear slide down his throat as he snuck around the house.  

 

Something felt off.

 

Something felt wrong. Maybe they were the witches. Maybe he should try another house.

 

No, he was here already. He needed to try. 

 

Just as he’s about to make his move he barely dodges a large branch being aimed his way. He fell backwards and looked up at his assailant. Not that far up. It was a girl, a very small girl.

 

“Who the hell do you think you are, what do you want and why shouldn’t i beat you right here and now?” She demands, holding her branch dangerously. Adam knows it’s probably not smart to provoke her. But would honesty work?   
  
“I-I-” He starts but is cut off by another voice above him.

 

“Oh Blue, you met our visitor, invite him in, would you?” A blonde woman says from the window above. She’s a wisp of a woman, with long blonde hair and knowing eyes. It should be unsettling but…. Adam feels like he knows her.

 

The girl- Blue doesn’t seem very pleased, but she tosses her branch and stomps to the door and holds it open.

 

Adam hesitates, but his soul tells him to go, so he does.He stands and walks to the girl, to the door and then crosses the threshold into the house. 

 

Warmth assaults him at all angles its almost overwhelming. The woman from the window steps over to him, almost glides. She’s very skinny, a branch of her own. Adam takes a step back.

 

“My name’s Persephone, what do you know about The Glen?”


	2. Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam is treated like family 
> 
> meanwhile people that know Adam are introduced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just saying, this WILL involve p pmuch all the important characters, and it will end up as the top fave couples I promise!

"I-I don't know anything--"    
  
"You know how to be a creeper," Blue cuts in, a glare still on her face.    
  
His jaw clenches, "look I'm not here just cause you're all women I'm here because i-"    
  
"To steal from us, right? " another woman interrupts, this one is shorter. Dark everywhere Persephone is light.    
  
"No!  W-well- I"   
  
"Oh leave the poor boy alone  we can interrogate him later. Right now he's dripping water all over our floors. Calla find something for the boy to wear.  Blue stop harassing him, I'll make tea," a third woman interrupts, this one looks a lot like Blue, but a bit taller, older. Her mother?

 

Persephone led him to a table and had him sit. 

 

He sat and stared.

 

“So,” Persephone started, sitting across from him, “what  _ do  _ you know of The Glen?”

 

Adam looked down and gave a small shrug, picking at the skin on his nails, “I...don’t know anything.”

 

Persephone nods and hums, as if she expected this.

 

“What  _ do  _ you know,” Blue cuts in, leaning her hip against a wall, her anger still apparent in her face. Adam tensed, getting defensive.   
  


“Look, I shouldn’t have come here, it was a mistake. I just thought maybe..I don’t know what I thought.”

 

“You came cause you thought we could help you,” The second woman, Calla speaks up as she re-enters the room. She tosses some clothes on the table, “That’s all I could find that’d fit you.”

 

The third woman comes in not long after, setting a cup of tea beside the clothes, “We had a feeling you’d be coming, what is you need help with?” Adam tensed at the word ‘help’ he didn’t want to have to ask for help. But...that is why he was here...wasn’t it?

 

“I…” He started, once again being cut off by one of the women.

 

“He needs a place to stay, the poor dear’s been sleeping under the bridge.” It’s Persephone, her head resting in her hand, elbow on the table. Her hair like a cloud resting around her.

 

“I don’t care where he’s been sleeping he can’t stay here!” Blue and Calla say, full of indignance.  

 

“Look, I don’t need your help with that, i’ll make do by myself. But...if you could tell me where I need to go, where home is.” Adam cuts in, finally getting to speak.

 

“You don’t know where home is?” Blue asks, distrustful.

 

“I’m lucky I know my name,” He snaps, shooting a glare at her. She shrugs.

 

“Well...we can’t quite tell you. We don’t know ourselves. Persephone has….an inkling. Nothing more. The Glen is all we can pick up. We don’t know much about it ourselves. What it is.  _ Where  _ it is. Just that it  _ is.”  _  The third woman speaks up as she sits to Adam’s right. 

 

“So this...Glen is where I need to find? Is that home?” Adam asks. The woman shrugs.

 

“I wish I could tell you. All that I can say right now is you need to rest. Somewhere warm. We can all talk more tomorrow, and you’ll let me have a look at those feet as well. Drink your tea and we’ll set up a place for you to sleep- No, Blue, don’t give me that look, he’s staying here end of story.” 

 

Blue snapped her mouth shut and glared before stomping off, presumably to her room. 

 

“Thank you...just...this is more than enough I...I can’t pay you back.” Adam said quietly, his jaw tense in his perceived lacking.

 

“Oh we don’t want anything in return,” Persephone intoned as she stood and walked around the table. She ran her hand over Adam’s hair even as he flinched away.

 

“Oh dear, maybe we should keep him.”

 

“I’d like to but this place isn’t his place Maura.” Oh, the third woman had a name after all.

 

“I’m not a pet…”

 

“Oh we know dear, come now, drink your tea and change your clothes, we’ll see you in the morning,” Maura said as she too stood and ran a hand over Adam’s hair. These women were very touchy.

 

Calla watched quietly and walked away, the other two women close on her heels. Adam watched them dumbly, then turned to his tea.

 

He picked up the cup and sniffed it. He was assaulted by the smell of plants. He quite liked it. I couldn’t remember the name of them all, but he knew that he knew them. Somewhere deep down he knew them. That felt like a good sign as he drank the tea and changed into the clothes. Looser clothes than he had, a bit more eccentric but nice. Warm.

 

As he stood his feet made their abuse known, pain shooting up his ankles. He ignored it as he made his way to the women’s voices.

 

“Oh there you are! Come, this is where you’ll sleep tonight, it isn’t much. But this house is quite full.” Maura says as she directs Adam to a place to lay. It was softer than the earth under the bridge. His eyelids drooped immediately. He heard more voices, more words he couldn’t make out. Sleep came for him quickly. The last thing he felt was Persephone’s thin hand brush over his hair once more, then sleep took him.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~

 

 

“Where the hell is he?! Where’d that little fucking shit go?” Echoed down the hall as a man stormed down the hall. His foot falls heavy. His fists clenched in rage as he slammed the door shut. The call of a raven not far behind him.

 

“Calm down, Ronan.” 

 

“Oh I am calm, this is perfectly fucking calm.” Ronan was the epitome of “not calm”. His face was twisted into rage and betrayal shown in his eyes, “He just fuckin’ disappeared, where the  _ fuck  _ did he go?!”

 

“We just have to be patient. He wouldn’t have left without a good reason. He was going to accept our offer you know that.”

 

“Like hell I do, he just played you, he knows we need him so now he took off till we up our offer. I know how this goes, Gansey. The kid’s playin’ us.”

 

“Let’s just give him a chance, if we don’t hear anything in three days we’ll go to him, deal?” 

 

Ronan sneered as he threw himself into a plush chair beside Gansey, “Deal, but i’m not happy about any of this, and when i’m right you’re never living it down.”

 

“That’s fine by me.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy! Please leave me your thoughts!


	3. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan and Gansey go to find Adam
> 
> Blue takes Adam to meet a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to get out! Ive been really sick but im already working on the next chapter! I hope you like it it adds a smidge more plot!

Morning came much too quickly for Adam’s liking. The house was at the perfect angle that when the sun began to rise, it rose directly into Adam’s face. Did these women wake with the sun? Didn’t they just go to sleep?

 

It was Blue that he saw first.

 

“Get up,” She ordered kicking at his makeshift bed.

 

Adam sat up quickly, his heart racing as he stared at her, “Is something wrong? What’s happening?”

 

“You’re helping with chores is what’s happening. No freeloaders here.” Blue huffs and crosses her arms, then looks down to Adam’s feet again and purses her lips, “after I take a look at that.”

 

Adam tried to tuck his feet away, “They’re fine…”

 

“Obviously not dumbass,” She crouched down and yanked one of his feet out, “what the hell? Do you not own shoes? This is pretty bad...even your feet are skin and bone…”

 

“It’s not a big deal,” he pulled his feet away and stood. Not even registering the pain lancing up his ankles.

 

“It’s either gonna be me or my mom so you might as well just let me see them,” She stood straight and crossed her arms once more.

 

Blue could see the moment she won as Adam’s shoulders drooped a little, losing the fight. She nodded in victory and led him back to the chair from the night before and had him sit. She crouched down and began looking at his feet once more, her face twisting into an emotion Adam couldn’t decipher.

 

“Have you never owned a pair of shoes why are you walking around like this?”

 

“I...i might have...somewhere.”

 

“Somewhere? Look I don’t know what your deal is, but you better start explaining it, are you running away from something? Is that why you’re being so different?”

 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Adam grew defensive, his posture tightening up.

 

“Try me.”

 

They stared each other down. Determined Blue and Defensive Adam.

 

“I don’t remember anything before a week ago. I woke up in the woods, just as you saw me yesterday. I only remember my name and the most minimal things about me. I don’t even know how old I am. I feel like your friend, Persephone, knows more about me than I do. You all seem to.” Adam finally admitted, eyes boring into Blue’s as if challenging her not to believe him.

 

“Ok, so you’re...what? Some kind of Changeling?” Blue asks, tone less hostile than before as if this information finally gave her what she needed to know about Adam.

 

“What’s a changeling?” He asks as she begins clearing dried blood and debris from his foot.

 

“Like...a faerie took you and you’re actually from the fae realm? Or I suppose back from the fae realm”

 

“That...that couldn’t possibly be something that happens. That isn’t real,” he shook his head as she pulled a salve from some hidden pocket.

 

“You’d be surprised at what’s ‘real’ or ‘not real’. Did you forget you basically have the knowledge of a baby? Mr. week old.” Blue huffed as she paused in her care to shoot Adam a thoroughly unimpressed look.

 

“When you say it like that it sounds horrible. I’m not that bad, I just...don’t remember where I came from or who I am.” He tried to argue. She just scoffed as she began bandaging his feet.

 

“Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Whoever you were is different than who you are now. Right now you’re Adam. And Adam, we have work to do so you’re helping me out. Try out your feet.” She stood and he followed her. The pain was still there but it was much more manageable.

 

“We’ll have to see about getting you something for those. You won’t fit in any of ours. Not even Calla’s...good thing I need to see a friend today too.” She wiped her hands on her sides and walked out the door.

 

Adam followed.

  


~~~~~~~~~

 

“What do you mean you haven’t seen him?” Ronan asked, his eyebrows drawing together very Impressive and Dangerously. The attendant he had cornered couldn’t look at him.

 

“I-I, I haven’t seen him Ser. The last I saw of him was the same as you..at the Offering…”

 

“Ronan, what are you doing. Leave Gerald alone he won’t know where Adam is.” Ronan’s eyes narrowed at Gerald once more before turning his attention to Gansey.

 

“It’s been a week Gansey, I gave you time and now its _my_ time to say-” He clears his throat and stands proper straight- “I Told You So.”

 

“You do realize you haven’t been proven correct, right? All we know is that he isn’t _here._ We need to find him, I would like to suggest his home.”

 

“I don’t want to go _there_ Gansey.”

 

“Neither do I...but we have to. I didn’t like the looks of the people he was with. Maybe we can persuade a conversation in private to better persuade him.”

 

“I don’t think your _diplomacy_ is gonna work here. What happens if they’re hiding him. Or he _doesn’t want to._ ” Ronan crossed his arms. A raven flies in and lands on his shoulder, pecking at the shine of gold around his ear.

 

“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it…”

 

“Let’s hope that bridge doesn’t exist.” Ronan muttered under his breath as he followed Gansey down the hall and out of the Palace.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Where are we going?” Adam asked as he followed Blue.

 

“To see a friend.” It’s all she’ll give him.

 

“To do what?”

 

“Things.”

 

“Like…?”

 

“Things that you’re gonna find out if you shut up and stop asking me dumb questions.”

 

Blue sighs, a very put-upon sigh, “We’re gonna see one of my friends, his name is Noah. We work together more or less. We make clothes. I don’t have the same gifts my family does, so I use my knack for making unique pieces to make some extra money since we seem to take in strays.”

 

“I….am truly sorry about last night I...I didn’t mean to impose charity or anything like that I just. I don’t know what to do.” Adam looked down.

 

Blue shrugged and kept on walking, “No harm done, bygones eh? You fit in with us. Stray and all. You just gotta earn your keep now.”

 

“I can do that.”

  


~~~~~~

 

The two walked with purpose, through the grounds of the Palace and beyond. Their horses under them they rode for The Outskirts. They knew Adam came from here. It was why Gansey thought he would accept the request immediately. Maybe take a day to think. He certainly never expected him to run away. If he indeed had.

 

“You know this is a stupid idea right.” Ronan asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

 

“It is our only course of action….something might have happened.” That was likely- more than likely- in Gansey’s mind. Who wouldn’t take an opportunity out of their situation for something better?

 

It took them a days ride to get to The Outskirts, and another few hours to get where Adam had been said to reside. It was small. Smaller than Gansey had expected. How many people lived here?

 

Ronan was off his horse and pounding on the door before Gansey had even thought to dismount.

 

“Open up!”  It didn’t take long for the door to swing open.

 

Robert Parrish was a beast of a man. Ugly and angry and everything you didn’t want to see up close in your face. But then again neither was Ronan.

 

“Where the hell's your son.”

 

“What he means to say is- Is Adam in there with you?” Gansey tries to ease the situation. The tension is high.

 

“He ain’t here.”  


“Ok then where the hell is he?”

 

“How the hell’m I supposed to know?”

 

“Well...he is your son, and you said you would bring him back in a day or two, to answer our call.” Gansey tries to get past Ronan, for politics. But Ronan doesn’t budge, he stands firm in the way. Blocking Gansey from Robert.

 

“The little fucker ran away, now beat it.” Robert goes to close the door but Ronan shoves his foot in the way and pushes past- into the small home.

 

“Parrish! Where the hell are you, ya fuckin prick!?”

 

“Get the hell out of this house!”

 

Gansey knew Ronan could handle himself and took the opportunity to look inside the home. It was close to barren. Mrs. Parrish sat and watched Ronan and Robert scream into each others face, violence on the horizon. No sign of Adam whatsoever. It was like he was a ghost.

 

But then…

 

“What did you do…”

 

And a fight broke out.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It took them awhile to reach this Noah’s house. Adam had never seen such a house before. Or maybe he had? Maybe this house was home to many people like Blue’s house. But Blue never mentioned anyone beside Noah being here.

 

“This….is a pretty big house.” Adam comments, Blue shrugs.

 

“It’s got a lott’a room for the things we need. Noah’s basically the only one here so.” She leads him up to the door and grabs a key that's buried behind a very innocuous flower. It was Blue.

 

She unlocks the door and pushes her way in. Adam at her heels.

 

“Noah! I’m here and I brought an extra pair’a hands!” She shouted. Adam looked around. The house was nice. It didn’t look very lived in. At least not the front. The further in they got the messier it got. Scraps of fabric lay on the floor or stuck _in_ the door. Adam couldn’t help but touch it.

 

“Who’re you?” Adam jumped as a voice sounded beside him. He spun around to face a waifish boy. If one could look waifish surrounded by opulence.

 

“This is Adam. Adam this is Noah. Noah he’s gonna help us out. Or try to see if he can be useful I mean.” Blue interjects, pulling Noah- whose brightened considerably upon seeing her- into a tight, friendly hug.

 

“Great! He can carry the boxes with us!” Noah hooks his arm between each of theirs and leads them to a room filled with fabrics and half-made clothes. It was one of the most enchanting things Adam had ever seen.

 

Or he thinks, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you want to scream at me please drop by my tumblr!  
> yeollie-bells.tumblr.com  
> id be happy to scream with yoU!!


	4. Whirlpool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan and Gansey get answers
> 
> Adam makes friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took awhile to get out! I hope yall are enjoying it! The plot thickens a bit eh!

“What did you  _ do with him?!”   _

 

Things had escalated. Robert Parrish had been forcefully restrained. Gansey had found something he couldn’t quite explain. Beside the fact that there was no presence of Adam in the house-Ronan had made sure after the fact to look, there was  _ nothing- _ Gansey had seen just one thing. One article. It was the ear-piece he had given to Adam the day they met-or more so- the day they met for the Meeting. It was gold and shaped perfectly to enhance the graceful point of Adam’s ear. Uniquely his own while still a set to match Ronan’s and Gansey’s own. Adam had been awed, Gansey saw that clearly in his eyes. He had missed the look Robert had. But Ronan didn’t. 

 

Once Gansey had stepped in and picked it up, bringing Ronan’s attention to it. All hell broke loose and now the Parrish Parents were settled together while Ronan stared them down. The earpiece clenched tightly between two fingers.

 

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about.” Robert truly didn’t know what was good for him, didn’t trust that Ronan would absolutely do uncivilized things to get the answers he wanted. 

 

Gansey put a hand to Ronan’s shoulder and stepped in front of him, “Mr. Parrish, we know that isn’t true. We know you were there when we gave our Offering to your son. We know that he didn’t accept because he needed to speak with his family, and we know that he hasn’t been seen by a soul since he left our Palace. So please, end your own suffering before it begins and tell us what we want to know. This-” A gesture to the gold in Ronan’s hand “-is all the proof we need to send you to a very Dark, Dangerous place for interference. Please don’t make me.”

 

“Maybe that damn boy didn’t want anything to do with you so he ran away and left your fucking token before he took off, he aint a trustworthy bastard ya should’a listened to me before- He aint fuckin worth your time.” 

 

“If he just ran away, I would like to think his parents would care a bit more that their son had gone missing.”

 

“Or y'know, fuckin’ give us a straight answer when we ask where the fuck he is.” Ronan moved again, leaning against a nearby wall. His muscles were tense and he wanted to fight. Gansey didn’t blame him, but he knew that wouldn’t get them the answers they wanted. He wasn’t sure they were going to get them anyways.

 

“How about you tell us what we want or I let my girl here pluck your eyes out for dinner, she does love the taste of eyeballs.” Ronan pet the raven on his shoulder. She screeched in delight.

 

“Well yer fuckin wrong. A parent would only care if their son was worth somethin’ and that bastard aint worth the salt it took ta make him. So get the hell outta my house and don’t ever come back.” Robert sneered. Ronan tensed further.

 

“That isn’t the right answer….” And Gansey left him to Ronan’s persuasion.

 

 

~~~~~~~

 

Adam was….surprisingly good at weaving fabrics, but he was even better at making tea. It seemed he was just pretty good with his hands in general and whenever Noah would pick up a stone he had to use for decoration, Adam would push his hand slightly -always just slightly- in one way or another saying it “feels better here”. And it really did. The design was good before but with Adam’s slight adjustments of “Put it here” or “add lavender, sage isn’t what it needs” the product that came out of their little room that day were slightly better than the others thus far.

 

“Is he a faerie?” Noah asks while adam braids flower stems together.

 

Blue shrugs as she tries the same, “I think so.”

 

“What’s his deal?”

 

“He showed up a week ago and doesn’t remember anything before it, showed up at our house last night. Persephone adopted him before she even saw him she was all ‘a boy is going to come soon, please make sure he feels at home’ I almost bashed his head off.”

 

“Thought he was a creeper?” Noah grins and Blue scowls.

 

“He’s definitely a creeper, but I  _ guess  _ he’s a good guy.”

 

“I can hear you, you know,” Adam says without missing a second, finishing a perfect flower crown and depositing it on Noah’s head. 

 

Noah beams. 

 

Blue sours more.

 

“Don’t worry I’m gonna make one for you too,” He laughs as Blue throws fabric scraps at him. He ends up incorporating them into her crown.

 

“It’s just as odd as you now!” Noah beams more, the yellow flowers in his hair making him almost blindingly sunny.

 

“This...gives me an idea, Adam! Make more of them! Base them off your weird faerie vibes you get from the dresses!”

 

“They’re not faerie vibes, Blue,” Adam grumbles but listens anyways.

 

“That sounds like something a faerie would say~” Noah sing-songs, causing Blue to laugh. Adam rolls his eyes at the two, unspeakably fond already.

 

He ends up teaching Blue and Noah how to make them as well and the three spend hours making crowns to compliment the previous gowns.

 

  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ronan left the home with bloodied knuckles and a grim expression, “We need to go to The Pools.”

 

Gansey frowned. The Pools were off limits. No one was meant to go near them, especially not for something unsavory. But then again who listened to rules when they were angry. Who abided the law when they beat their child and took him to The Pools. They were a portal. Everyone knew you didn’t mess with portals. Why would he have taken his son there? What could have possibly motivated such a rage? Was it possible he would still be there? Would they have to go through them?

 

“Stop thinking so much, we have to check it out we’ll make a plan when we get there.” Ronan grabbed Gansey’s shoulder and led him back to their horses. It was a long ride ahead of them. 

 

With a nod and determined set to their jaw, the Prince and his Creator set out to the whirlpools to find their Protector.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think im gonna make aesthetic-y edits for this tbh since faerie is kind of the aesthetic?? idk ill make them and throw them up on my Tumblr (yeollie-bells.tumblr.com) if youre interested!!
> 
> please hit me up if youd like! for questions comments concerns! Even if you jsut wanna give me some more tagging ideas!


	5. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan and Gansey find out what happened to Adam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM S O SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!!! and the short chapter! I'm low on ideas but i didnt want to keep leading you all on!

The thing about Adam, Blue noticed, was he had a knack for finding things. It’s the dead of winter and still he can find the perfect place for a houseplant. Or he can find the one foot of moss or the one sprig of ivy. One day, alongside Noah the group went out to try and find the Final Berries.

 

“The berries that have held on strong till now are always the tastiest~” Noah sang as he led them out the door. Blue wasn’t keen on going out into the cold and snow. Adam didn’t even seem to hear them the first few times, he just followed their lead. 

 

They were still piecing things about him together. A week in their family, in their lives and they were none-the-wiser about him. They didn’t know where he came from or anything about his past. But they knew he was attuned to nature, plants seemed to reach for him and animals didn’t shy away from his touch. He was either selective in his hearing or had lost it in his left. He sometimes spoke about a ‘click’ in his ear. Or, not exactly. It’s what Blue called it. Sometimes he would look off into the distance and stare as if he heard something. Or saw something. Maybe only his  _ ear  _ was a faerie. 

 

Blue had grown to like their new addition. His strangeness mixed well with her families strangeness- Noah’s strangeness. Blue wasn’t sure she wanted him to remember who he was before. There had to be a reason he had forgotten. Maybe it was bad. It was probably bad. It’s always bad.  None of the women of the house had yet to even get a read on him.

 

“It’s like he’s surrounded by vines, or I am...it’s suffocating.” Calla had said, Maura had agreed. It seemed like he was unknowable. Blue didn’t buy it. Everyone was knowable. Everyone was worth knowing. She was going to figure things out, she was going to help Adam become knowable. 

 

Now was one such time, out in the wild with Adam and Noah. Blue stared. The boys were pillaging for late bloomers or strong blooms. Whatever had made it this far into the colder months. Adam had led them to a very….scenic place. Blue asked if he knew where they were. He just shrugged and said  _ it felt right _ . Blue found him curious. She found his curiousness intriguing. 

 

Adam also liked to get into fights around the town it seemed. Blue also kind of liked his ferocity. Noah egged him on- excitement at something  _ interesting  _ finally happening in their little town.

Adam didn’t like being called a faerie or anything like that. It seems not many people had gotten that message.

 

“Faerie” “abomination” “scum” were thrown at him left and right. Most days he let it wash right off of him but sometimes… sometimes it grated on him. Sometimes he rose his voice. When that happened the wind seemed to whistle and the dead branches creaked. The dry leaves on the ground skittered and whirled around. 

 

It didn’t really help his case. 

 

Noah liked when that happened, he liked seeing Adam stick up for himself, liked the fire that seemed to awaken in his eyes when he was truly angry. Blue liked seeing the looks on the townee’s faces when he raised his voice. Never a yell. But any sign of backbone didn’t sit well on these people. It’s why her family were outsiders. 

 

None of it really helped Adam’s case. Though he rarely reached that point of anger, more likely to flinch away whenever a voice was raised. Or a hand. It had come to the point they had decided he was truly alone. Adam was no one before he was Adam, here.

 

“You can just be you now, you don’t need to have a you then.” Noah assured him as the three sat together , legs hanging over the bridge out of town.

 

“Doesn’t mean he isn’t curious about who he was, Noh.” Blue sighed as she leaned forward onto her knees.

 

The other two copied her. They stared into the water below them.

 

“I think i’m fine with being Adam now,” Adam says after a while, watching a small leaf turn in circles in a small turn pool of water amidst the mud and garbage. The other two looked to him. “I think who I was, was no good. So I can just be me now. I can be better than however I was. I probably don’t remember so it can be a good, fresh start.”

 

Noah nodded, “Can’t be a better you if you remember how bad old you sucked.” 

 

Blue threw a rock at him.

  
  
  


  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


The Pools were truly a sight to behold. They were far from the True Lands. Everything about them was deceitful. They were beautiful, serene, surrounded by lush green grass no matter the season. The waters never stopped, always swirled even as icicles grew from Gansey’s fingertips. 

 

Nothing was disturbed. It was hard to tell if they were told the truth. If Adam really had been here. 

 

“Well now what?” Ronan crossed his arms, a furrow at his brow as he stared into the swirling waters. He looked between the three, eyes ending lastly on the one spitting three streams.

 

“We look around. We look for any sign of Adam.” Gansey sounded more certain than he felt.

 

Ronan scoffed but began looking. Chainsaw soaring into the sky to join their search. 

 

It took the pair several days journey to arrive to The Pools. It was not an easy journey. It was fraught with perils, but worse were to come were they not to get their protector back. 

 

“What’s so special about these things anyways,” Ronan asked as he kicked around a bush.

 

Gansey rolled his eyes, “Were you really not paying attention when we were taught our  _ history? _ ” Ronan answered with a shrug. Gansey withheld a groan.

 

“In a condensed version, they used to be used mostly for exile. To exile people, send them away.”

 

“Yeah I got that, genius, I know what ‘exile’ means, why would he take his kid here? Of all places.”

 

“Kerah!” Gansey’s answer was cut off as Chainsaw flapped her wings and  _ screamed  _ at them.

 

They ran over and their fears were mostly confirmed. No one had any need to come here anymore. There would be no reason for anything to be here. Though it wasn’t certain the fabric in Chainsaw’s beak was Adam’s, or the one shoe Gansey and Ronan found in near places. No one else had admitted to coming here. Gansey looked to Ronan gravely. Ronan’s frown grew as he looked to the swirling water.

 

“So he really threw his son in.”

 

“It wasn’t just to get rid of them Ronan…” Gansey said softly. Ronan looked to him puzzled.

  
“It was perfect for exile because those who were thrown in...they came out the other side remembering nothing of where they were... _ who  _ they were.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://78.media.tumblr.com/e6b9e1d151b15581465e25efb19f80af/tumblr_o0ijtxx1XQ1rpm0zfo2_400.jpg The Pools!


End file.
